Posts Tagged ‘Photovoltaic Cells’

Laptops batteries die quickly these days with the heavy usage. But if you forgot the charger, or if you cannot get a slot to plug your charger, your day is over. Or is it? This is where solar power comes in to play. Running laptop on solar power may seem a novel idea. But the truth is, it is not much different to powering your house with a solar panel.

But when it comes to solar powering your laptop, you have to consider few important factors. First and foremost, you should be able to carry the solar panel with ease. Obviously you cannot carry a huge solar panel like the one you would mount on your roof. They should be light weight and smaller in size. I have seen foldable solar panels; I think a very smart way of making them portable. I have seen solar powered laptop back packs too. How smart is that?

On the other hand, this smaller panel should provide enough power to power your laptop. Although laptops will consume less energy when compared with a PC, they still consume a considerable amount of energy, in some cases around 80 Watts. So to work practically, you will need your laptop solar charger to produce good power.

Among other factors, you will need to get proper adapters to charge your laptop. It will be useless to have the best charger, if you cannot plug it to your laptop. So have a look at the adapters provided with the laptop solar power kit. Make sure you have the one you need.

I consider the length of the power cable important too. I do not like to leave my laptop on sunlight while it charges. Longer cables will allow you to put the solar panel where it can catch most amount of solar power, while keeping your laptop in a safe place without exposing to direct sunlight.

In addition, most of these chargers can power stuff like iPhones, portable CD players and some even capable of giving a boost to your car batteries. Have a look at what your charger can power up in addition to your laptop. These additional features will be invaluable in a case of an emergency.

When it comes to price, I have seen these chargers ranging from $70-80 to $300+. So it really depends on what you go for. Always remember to get a better quality one. You are going to use this in an emergency, last thing you will want is, your laptop solar power kit to fail. Brunton 26 Watt Foldable Solar Array is my favorite, with latest technology and neat design. When I am writing this post they extend a generous 50% discount on the product.